I love bread but I hate sandwich

@Burdpal it's mostly a joke about how I wanted to headcanon her as a lesbian even though I fully and completely recognize that that's not the intent of the developers and doesn't have any real bearing within the story beyond subjectively observed "vibes", as I acknowledged early in the video

Imagine taking any part of this video seriously

Part 2: I disagree that Maruki's intentions were patently similar to the other antagonists of the story. Even the developers themselves recognize that Royal doesn't really have a bad or good ending: it has a stay and return ending. The open ambivalence of, honestly, very philosophical themes of the Allegory of the Cave are indicative of this. The embrace of a new reality, or the resignation of a troubled current reality with the possibility of people coming to their own senses is the crux of nearly every persona game, is it not? But oh well, to each their own. I'm sure I would've felt similarly had I played the original game in a formative time in my life.

Also a slight tangent, but what references Kasumi being a lesbian? I cannot recall instances where she was at odds with her identity.

Part 1: As someone who hasn't played the original, I value your perspective on the OG ending; it does give the story more value when seeing the high school children upholding the resistance in their own way, even subjected to a loss of their persona powers. However, I've always interpreted the ending of Royal as the metaverse still persisting, as alluded by Ren having his mask in the window's reflection.